


Concessions and Confessions

by meet_the_girl_who_can



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Booker | Sebastien le Livre is Part of the Team, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fluff and Crack, Found Family, Joe's just trying to be responsible, M/M, Mild Language, Nicky | Nicolò di Genova is a Little Shit, Nile has a dog that's it that's the plot, Nile has the one Brain Cell, POV Alternating, POV Nile Freeman, Post-Canon, Redeemed Booker | Sebastien le Livre
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:01:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26639242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meet_the_girl_who_can/pseuds/meet_the_girl_who_can
Summary: “Nile, sweetheart, please tell me you are just dog-sitting,” Joe asks turning the attention back to the canine who has rolled over onto its back, little legs flopping over as it exposes its tummy.Absently, Joe rubs its belly, fingers sinking into the soft fluff of its chest even as he watches Nile carefully because he’s got to be able to tell Andy he at least asked.“I am just dog-sitting” Nile confirms, “My dog”
Relationships: Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Nile Freeman
Comments: 59
Kudos: 531





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Crack. Pure Crack.

_“Santa Maria, Madre di Dio”_ Joe huffs gratefully as Nile’s house, a secure little place just outside of Florence, with a lovely garden that had been a gift from them all, hove in sight. She had been so surprised that she would get her own house so soon, but they had wanted to show her, after Merrick and then the shock of Quynh’s return that eternity is really not always like that. There are stretches of peace, time to live and use their extended lifespans to do whatever they wanted to do. So, Nile had moved to Italy and was finally getting her degree in Art History. They hadn’t wanted her to feel like they were cutting her adrift, so Nicky and Joe had settled for a time near Siena, close enough that she had her independence but nearby so that if she needed them, for any reason at all, they could get to her. Andy and Quynh were in the wind, still reacquainting themselves with each other but they heard from them both pretty regularly.

Booker…less so, though his exile had been rescinded. He was still working on himself and sobriety, on grieving, on remembering that they were here to help, above all else. Did a lot of work with orphanages, as far as they could tell. But they all saw him, regularly enough. He always came when Andy called.

He probably would have come if they had called too, but the job had seemed like a milk run and they hadn’t wanted to bother anyone. The men they’d been dealing with had been holed up just outside of Pisa, they’d thought they’d be done quickly, maybe have a chance to have dinner with Nile if she fancied after a day of classes before heading home.

It had not been a milk run. So, after stealing one of the cars that had just enough petrol to get them out of Pisa before they’d had to ditch it, they’d trekked through the darkened streets to Nile’s house. Joe pulled out his phone (super encrypted, thank you Copley) to call Nile so that when she saw two shadowy figures with guns on her doorstep through the cameras, she didn’t shoot them. 

She picks up, mercifully, on the third ring.

“Joe?” she asks, voice rough, she was probably asleep, “What’s happened? Is everyone-“

“Everyone’s fine, habibti. Just dandy,” Beside him, Nicky huffs a laugh, cradling his aching ribs, the edge of his smile just visible behind his hood, Joe squeezes his hand and buries his face briefly in Nicky’s neck “Could you, uh, come and let us in, please?”

“You’re here? Shit, yeah, yeah course I can. Two seconds” Above their heads, the light clicks on in Nile’s bedroom, leaking out from beneath the curtains. About a minute later, there’s the scrape of metal as she undoes the locks, and the door swings open to reveal Nile in a pair of shorts and a tank top peering out at them.

“ _Fuck, what happened?”_

“You should see the other guys” Joe murmurs for levity, stepping aside to make sure Nicky goes through first, before following, grateful for the warmth of the entry hall and Nile’s gentle hug. When she pulls away there’s a smudge of blood on her cheek from his ruined shirt, and Joe wipes it off apologetically.

“Oh never mind that, what were you doing?”

“There was a job, just outside Siena. Sadly, it didn’t go as smooth as we assumed” Nicky explains in his lyrical voice, shrugging. Nile fixes them with a steady glare “Why didn’t you call us?” she asks, before immediately ploughing on, “Like I know you guys have been doing this longer than I’ve been alive and all that shit, and you were doing this on your own before Andy and Quynh found you but - we’re a family. I’m not the only one who can call for help”

Suitably chastened, the two of them duck their heads, which is more to hide their proud smiles than anything else but Nile just rolls her eyes. “Like we’re not gonna be having that conversation again in six months. There’s some of your clothes in the hall closet. Just dump whatever’s for burning in one of the bin bags and I’ll get some towels. Tea?”

The two of them beam at her, “That would be wonderful, thank you” Nicky affirms with reverence, yanking the remains of hoodie off. There’s at least two here, although one of them Nile stole when she was cold in Switzerland and has never given back, so that’s probably upstairs somewhere. Nile just smiles sweetly, a parting shot over her shoulder that if they destroy her downstairs shower again, she expects a Jacuzzi as a replacement, as she disappears towards the kitchen.

There’s a strange sound of clicking on tile, a musical jingle of metal none of which either of them would associate with preparing tea, and the sound of scuffling.

“Nile-“ Nicky calls out, stepping towards the kitchen

“ _No,_ shit, come back here you little-“ Nile cries out and there’s more scuffling before a dog comes flying out of the kitchen door and stops dead in the middle of the entrance hall. It turns out to be a very fluffy corgi, who barks once happily at the sight of them and dives immediately for Nicky’s legs, jumping up at him, its little forelegs braced on his shin, tongue lolling.

“Um, hello” Nicky greets, eyes flicking to Joe who just shakes his head, similarly lost. When it becomes obvious that Nicky isn’t going to give it any attention, the thing abandons him in favour of Joe. Joe yanks his glove off and drops to his haunches and lets the animal sniff his clean hand, since it’s the only part of him free of someone else’s blood, making sure to snag the little beast’s collar and hold it still.

“Uh, well shit.” Nile stands in the archway, chewing her lip before waving a hand at the tableau of the three of them, “Joe, Nicky, meet Toto”

“Toto?” they chorus together, looking from the ball of fluff to Nile and back again.

“Uh, yeah?” she cringes, “Y’know, from _The Wizard of Oz_? I thought it was kinda fitting what with me not being in Kansas anymore?”

“I thought you were from Chicago?” Nicky asks, perplexed with what Kansas has to do with anything.

“No, that’s not-“ she laughs a little, and looks up at the ceiling, the way she always does when a reference that’s common to her flies over their heads. It’s a nice inversion of their usual paradigm. Puts everyone on equal footing, showing her they don’t know _everything_.

“Nile, sweetheart, please tell me you are just dog-sitting,” Joe asks turning the attention back to the canine who has rolled over onto its back, little legs flopping over as it exposes its tummy. Absently, Joe rubs its belly, fingers sinking into the soft fluff of its chest even as he watches Nile carefully because he’s got to be able to tell Andy he at least **asked**.

“I am just dog-sitting” Nile confirms, then adds “My dog”

Well then.

Joe just groans. Andy’s going to kill them for letting this happen. Probably quickly, but still. He looks to Nicky for help, and thankfully, his beloved is a merciful man.

“Nile…tesoro,” because they are loathed to curb her, but there are certain things that are just not tenable when they live the way they do, even with Copley’s assistance now, “you know, you cannot keep it”

“Nu-uh,” she leans against the doorframe and crosses her arms, “you said and _I quote_ , ‘I could do whatever I wanted, that immortality means living’. I wanted a motorcycle. I wanted a house. Well, I wanted a dog. You never said I couldn’t get a dog”

Well, she’s got them there. But none of them have ever had _pets._ Horses yes, and Andy had lamented the day when it had become obvious that cars were going to become commonplace. She still insisted horses were far more reliable and horse-riding was on Nile’s list of training when she and Quynh returned to the fold, eventually. What with missions and whatnot, the thought hadn’t even crossed their minds as a possibility. Nile is wonderful like that.

“The dog can’t stay” Joe tries again, valiantly. Nicky, the little traitor, has gotten over his initial shock and has dropped to his knees, holding a hand out for Toto to sniff. The dog is tilted towards him at an awkward angle, evidently trying to indulge the possibility of more affection without relinquishing Joe’s tummy rubs.

“I think you’ll find he can. Now go, shower, you're ruining a two-hundred-year-old carpet, between you” Nile spins on her heel and marches off to the kitchen. Toto wriggles upright and follows, devotion obvious.

She laughs when the two of them appear, hair still damp but otherwise completely clean only twenty minutes later. She’d learned quickly that after missions heading south like that, there was a reason they tried to indulge in the luxury of having safe houses with two bathrooms wherever possible out of sheer practicality than anything else. 

At her quirked eyebrow, and Nicky just tries, “Ah, curiosity killed the cat?”

“But satisfaction brought it back” Nile shoots back, easily. Refusing to budge.

“Where’s Toto?”

On cue, Toto’s head pops up onto the kitchen table. He’s been sitting on Nile’s lap as she pets him. The whole effect is cripplingly adorable but they must be strong. Resolved. This brings Joe to his next point.

“You couldn’t have gotten like a deerhound or something Andy would find respectable?” Not a little loaf of bread with legs. 

Nile jabs a finger at him “Do not insult my baby, Yusuf Al-Kaysani” Joe gapes at her, for a second. Nile has never used his full name, or any of their full names in all the time that they’ve known her, except to check she pronounced them correctly. He holds up his hands, sputtering as he tries not to laugh. Andy had not been wrong, Nile brimmed with potential.

Nicky, by comparison, does nothing of the kind, sniggering slightly as he pours the lemon and ginger tea from the pot into two cups.

“Doesn’t he get tired too quick on walks and things?”

Nile just glares at him some more.

“I’m – no, I’m genuinely interested!” Florence was a sizeable city, after all. But it seems Nile has an answer for that too. Gently depositing Toto on the floor, she slips from her seat to retrieve a bulky bundle of folded silvery nylon from a cubbyhole by the kitchen door and hunches down, laying it on the floor for them to see.

“Toto, c’mere boy, backpack!”

She unfurls the material to reveal an open backpack. Toto, to his credit (they are so fucked, Andy’s going to kill them) trots over and steps into it and with a little help, wiggles his forelegs through specially designed holes and lets Nile zip him in like those new-fangled baby slings. She picks him up and puts on the backpack, and Toto’s head comes to rest on her shoulder. “See? I can take him anywhere like this”

It is one of the cutest things Joe has ever seen.

“What about jobs and – everything?” Nicky asks cautiously, as Nile sets Toto back down and releases him from the backpack, demonstration finished.

“Neighbours take him. Or Copley’ll sort something out”

Nicky catches Joe’s eye quickly, hope passing between the two of them. Let Copley take the fall out. “Does Copley know?”

“Well, no, not yet” Nile hedges but then she laughs darkly, “What’s he gonna say? No?”

Which, fair.

They sip their tea amiably, talking about the mission, about how it went wrong. Fucking football match cancellation and the promise of overtime pay from the sounds of the fact that their targets had been well-staffed. Nile must be tired, but she stays with them and they love her for that, talking about her course, and the city, the first Palio is coming up soon and it’ll be Nile’s first one so she’s coming to stay, maybe wander over to Cinque Terra and do the tourist thing. Until of all things, Toto yawns. All big pink tongue and rows of pearly white little razors.

 _Oh god_ , thinks Joe absently from where he’s leaning into Nicky’s arms, surrendering to destiny, _we’ve got a dog._

Given how long Andy and Quynh have been gone, Andy’s immortality is blessedly somehow restored, Toto might have passed away from ripe old age by the time they come back. They can worry about it tomorrow.

****

It’s only when Joe and Nicky disappear into their bedroom with a quiet goodnight and a promise of breakfast at someplace that’s been open since the 1920s that Nile hasn’t found on her own, that Nile allows herself to relax.

All things considered, that could have been way a way more awkward conversation than she wanted to have right now. 

“I guess the dog’s out of the bag, now, eh Cherie?” Booker asks from the doorway to the bedroom, where he’s standing absentmindedly scratching his bare chest, the marks from Nile’s nails already long gone, by now.

“You can be quiet and all.” She hisses, even as she trails towards his open arms, “Didn’t hear you coming to dive to my rescue, considering it’s _your_ fault Toto was even in the kitchen in the first place”

Booker grins and stalks towards her and Nile realises too late as he dives down, literal-minded **_asshole,_** and scoops her up in his arms, throwing her over his shoulder,

“Ahaha fuck, Bas!” she cries, wriggling as he presses kisses to the outside of her thigh, fingers skimming under the tank top she’d hastily thrown on after Joe’s call after she’d climbed off Booker.

“Nile? Is everything- Booker?” Booker spins around at the sound of Nicky’s voice coming from down the hall. He stands, leaning back out into the hall, handgun at the ready, though his hand drops at the sight of Booker, here, Nile slung over his shoulder.

“Ah” gently, Booker lowers Nile back to the ground, and she turns around just in time to see Joe also emerge from the bedroom, sleepy hands bracing on Nicky’s shoulder and hip as he comes to investigate the commotion.

“Habibi, what –“

The two men stare at Booker’s bare chest and obvious sex hair – he’s cut it short, so it sticks up in a wave of tufts from where Nile’s hands have been - and the open door of Nile’s bedroom. Their bedroom.

“Joe, Nicky. _Bonsoir._ ” His arms curl around Nile’s waist, resting his hands on her stomach. Warmth shoots through Nile, making her toes curl in response. He’s not leaving her alone with this one, at least.

“Something else you forgot to mention, sweetheart?” Joe asks, sounding far more awake by now, though his eyes are dancing, mouth stretched in that beautiful, crinkly-eyed grin as he looks from her to Booker behind her. He says something in French, but the words are too old for Nile to understand.

Booker huffs, and everything about him screams sex, even the low cadence of his voice as he answers, in English, “Tell me about it”

_“What did Joe say, earlier?” Nile will ask later in bed picking up where they left off, pressing on Booker’s broad, perfect pectorals, hands mapping the skin beneath her fingertips._

_“He said, ‘Took you long enough’, fuck, **mon tresor** ,” Booker will break off into a groan, clutching at her hips. And Nile will grin wickedly, grinding down further, dancing along the edges of release _

_“Tell me about it”_

But here and now in the breached stillness of the hallway, Nicky is the one to smile _,_ and it’s so different from Goussainville, except in all the ways it’s not. Teasing and light and reassuring all at once. He’s going to be the one to tell Andy and Quynh, she just knows it.

Nile just sighs, wondering at her life, and casts one last look at where Toto is curled up in his little nook by the bookcase in the corner, totally oblivious.

Yup, definitely not in Kansas anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Booker's POV. Crack again and some introspection.

“C’mon Book, God look at you, you’re so good for me babe” Nile’s nails rake deliciously over his chest and Booker is trying to maintain some shred of coherency, but it's so good, and Nile is utterly divine and the fact that he is here, with her, like this –

And then her phone rings.

“Oh merde” he manages, pulling his mouth off her because _her phone is ringing._

“Wha-“ Nile’s eyes open, blearily as she comes back down to Earth, ripped away from her pleasure by the phone’s incessant chime.

Booker scrabbles upright and snatches her phone off the bedside table as Nile sits back, their arms brushing as he holds it out to her. 

Nile’s eyes narrow at the sight of Joe’s name illuminating the device’s display in the dark of their bedroom. _At this time of night?_ They catch each other’s eyes and Nile presses the answer button, and then the speaker button also, because she is too good, always.

“Joe?” she asks, voice still thick with her pleasure. Booker’s hands slide up her thighs where they bracket his chest, to ground her rather than distract her, listening quietly. No-one knows he’s here yet, that they are…together, like this.

“What’s happened? Is everyone-“ Because, out of habit, Andy always calls Joe and Nicky first, so if anything’s happened…her hand comes to rest on top of Booker’s own and he twists their fingers together, determined to be calm for her.

“Everyone’s fine, habibti. Just dandy,” Joe reassures and the two of them breathe out together. The huff of Nicky’s quiet laugh comes over the line as well, and Booker freezes and holds his breath. Please don’t let Nicky have heard two breaths instead of one. He’s being paranoid, he knows, but still, he doesn’t want to rush Nile. Nile, who has been more patient and kind than he can ever deserve. Nile who somehow loves _him_ , beyond the immortality that binds them. She will tell their family when she is ready and he will try to deserve her. But he knows as he watches her, that Joe, a man who likes his sleep, would not call to simply exchange pleasantries.

“Could you, uh, come and let us in, please?”

“You’re here?” Nile’s eyes widen, _fuck_ , she mouths at Booker, gesturing between their bare chests. Now that there’s no imminent threat, Booker relaxes back against the pillows, trying not to laugh. She is adorable, especially when thwarted.

Realising there’s no other option, Nile finally climbs off him onto the floor and Booker misses her instantly. Nile tosses her braids over her shoulder and glares at him. “Shit, yeah, yeah course I can. Two seconds” She hangs up and Booker stretches out a hand to turn on the bedside light.

Nile scurries over to her dresser, ignoring the robe he holds out to her in favour of some simple, plain sleepwear that she’s worn a thousand times in every safe house he can think of “Just because that’s what you see me in all the time. We’re supposed to wear clothes around other people, if I go down there naked they’re going to _know._ ”

“Well, mon Coeur? Do you want them to?” He teases, watching her appreciatively, enjoying her panic far too much. He’ll come downstairs and tell them right now, or he can stay here out of sight. He will do as she asks, first and always.

“No!” and then her eyes widen, “Fuck, no, “I-I’m not ashamed of you, Sebastien!” she rushes to assure him,

“I know that mon chou” he waits until she’s pulled the tank top down over her head, so she can see his face.

“But like, how are we going to explain you being here? You were in Calais the last they knew. **And** you’ve _clearly_ had sex-“ she waves at him again and he looks to see the last scratches of her nails fading away, always too soon, no wonder Joe is constantly latched onto Nicky’s neck, he understands that now. He also knows his hair must be a mess. “And,” she pouts again, “you’re enjoying this far too much, you bastard” She rifles through the drawer, pulls something out and lobs it at him. He catches it easily and when he looks, it is to see a pair of his own socks. They must have gotten mixed up in her drawer when he put away the laundry. He grins dopily down at the socks, warmth blooming in his heart at such a silly thing as he folds his hands behind his head. Nile likes his arms of all things and he wriggles at the sudden heat in her gaze at his movements.

“And Two am is not the time for such admissions. We must focus on what Joe and Nicky need right now. I will be here if you need me” She darts the room and leaves him with one last, quick kiss. It’s so sweet, it hurts.

“I always need you” she winks, “Stay here till the coast is clear” and disappears, leaving Booker alone with that. _Minx._

He leaves the bedroom door open so he can hear better, but switches off the light so that when Joe and Nicky inevitably retire, they won’t see him. He’ll shut the door before then anyway. Returning to the still-warm sheets, Booker lies there. He almost gets up when he hears Nile’s voice grow loud, admonishing and comforting in turn, because what have they been doing? And he has to agree, even as Nile slips into the plural of asking why Nicky and Joe had not called anyone else in– though she gets away with it. It must be bad because Nile stays downstairs and then he hears Toto bark, too clear and too close to blame on the neighbours and he has to turn his face into Nile’s pillow to tamp down on the deep laughter rumbling in his chest.

His poor sweetheart.

Booker’s curiosity does get the better of him, and he flicks on the screen linked up to the cameras to watch. There’s obviously been a job, a real fight, given the amount of weapons Nile is piling on the kitchen counter to be cleaned at some point. He could do that for them. But right now…Being seen by their older brothers now, will definitely only make things worse. In his own defence, and to do right by Andy in her absence, he had _tried_ to convince Nile not to get a dog. Had used every argument he could think of, which were probably exactly the same ones Joe and Nicky were using right now.

It could get hurt. They might not be able to move the dog when they had to move countries. There would be arranging dog-sitting for when they were on jobs. But Nile had just turned those big eyes on him and he had been lost. And then, when they’d gone to the pound and she had dropped his hand and knelt down. Had let Toto bowl her over, had hoisted the little baguette of an animal into her arms, their heads together, beaming up at him…Booker is a weak man.

He will never be able to give her children, but he can support her in this.

And then she’d named it Toto, naturally and Booker had had to laugh and had gone to the pet store the next day, while Nile was in class to get dog tags and bowls and a stupid amount of toys.

It was all worth it, especially when she would wander ahead on the Ponte Vecchio, with Toto strapped into that ridiculous backpack, heads together, making his heart melt. Even if the lock screen of Nile’s phone now showed the photo she had taken of him passed out on the sofa, Toto splayed over his stomach after a long walk around the Boboli gardens like a little king.

He’d rather be happy than have his dignity, anyway.

Eventually, though, he hears movement on the stairs as the others make their way to bed, saying goodnight. Toto’s claws click on the hardwood floor as he no doubts pads over to his little nook by the bookcase. That had been the one thing Booker had insisted on, remembering all too well how many times he and Sabine had been interrupted by dogs or three small boys trying to get into their bedroom, wondering what was happening behind their parents’ door.

Easing himself up off the bed, Booker hears the bedroom door that Nicky and Joe always take on their visits close and props himself against their own doorframe. Nile is beautiful in the soft light of the corridor, and like Andy, she is always the last to go to bed. The gold adornments in her braids twinkle in the light and he just wants to relax the tense line between her shoulders, the weight that is this life. She shoulders it beautifully, but he would have her put down the burden when she can.

“I guess the dog’s out of the bag, now, eh Cherie?” he teases, beaming at her when she swings round to glare at him, gloriously.

“You can be quiet and all.” And he delights in the way that she heads straight for his open arms without hesitation, despite the diatribe. God, he loves this woman. “Didn’t hear you coming to dive to my rescue, considering it’s _your_ fault Toto was even in the kitchen in the first place”

She’s got him there. He’d shut Toto in the kitchen after clearing away the dinner things since Nile didn’t need to study pressingly and it had been too long since he had had her all to himself to worship with his mouth. Hmm. Well, if swooping in is what she needs him to do, he must rectify the situation. Immediately. Stalking towards her, and swooping down, he catches her over his shoulder easily, one hand securing her at the waist, turning his head to taste all the skin left on display by her summery sleepwear.

“Ahaha fuck, Bas!” she cries, wriggling as he presses kisses to the outside of her thigh, fingers skimming under the tank top she’d hastily thrown on after Joe’s call...

“Nile? Is everything- Booker?” Booker spins around at the sound of Nicky’s voice coming from down the hall. He stands, leaning back out into the hall, handgun at the ready, though his hand drops at the sight of Booker, here, Nile slung over his shoulder.

“Ah” gently, Booker lowers Nile back to the ground, and she turns around just in time to see Joe also emerge from the bedroom, sleepy hands bracing on Nicky’s shoulder and hip as he comes to investigate the commotion.

“Habibi, what –“

The two men stare at Booker’s bare chest and obvious sex hair – he’s cut it short, so it sticks up in a wave of tufts from where Nile’s hands have been - and the open door of Nile’s bedroom. Their bedroom.

“Joe, Nicky. _Bonsoir._ ” His arms curl around Nile’s waist, resting his hands on her stomach and hoping she doesn’t mind. Or kill him, for revealing this too, with his enthusiasm. He likes enthusiasm. He’s missed it.

“Something else you forgot to mention, sweetheart?” Joe asks of Nile, perking up with interest and drawing Nicky closer, mirroring Booker’s own embrace. Booker’s heart twinges at the sight, and he wonders at Joe. At both of them. When they were all together for all those years…how many touches had they tamped down, out of fear of rubbing their bliss into Andy and Booker’s faces. The thought prises at the old wound of his betrayal, and he wraps his arms around Nile all the tighter for it. Watches Joe carefully, hoping he realises for approval. And then Joe gives his most beautiful smile, the wide one that makes his eyes crinkle and Booker basks in it, as he does Nicky’s glowing eyes. He hopes to be that forgiving one day. He hopes to do nothing to require forgiveness for.

“ _Took you long enough,”_ Joe says warmly, in the French of Booker’s childhood. “ _Hurt her and we’ll show you just how creative we got with killing during the Crusades”_

Nicky nods, sagely, sniper’s gaze keen

Booker huffs because that’s the thing with Nile being their sister and they being his brothers. They have to give him both sides of the coin. “Tell me about it”

Which, of course, leads to Joe scoffing and muttering how he can bet his ass €500, he’s going to be the one to tell them everything, and they’re going to have to track down Andy and Quynh and facetime or something. But then Nicky, because he is a prince among men just smiles and murmurs, “Tomorrow, beloved” and scoots Joe backwards into their room with his broad shoulders and suckled kisses to Joe’s neck, until with one last wave he shuts the door.

“This is what I’m saying!” Nile turns on him, smacking his chest lightly, “All your fault” but then she wraps her arms around his neck to kiss him. “Bet you we can be louder” and making Booker groan because between the six of them, this is _not_ a competition that needs to be started. 

“That’s the spirit” she winks, sliding down and pulling him towards the bedroom as he laughs unrepentantly.

_There’s no place like home_


	3. Chapter 3

“Please, we’re nearly – we’re nearly there, we’re just – stop snickering Hayati, just because I am A Snack, as Nile would say” Joe’s words were cut off by bounds of laughter as he and Nicky tumbled through the door. 

“I know you’re teaching us all the modern slang but Nile, mon tresor, I’m officially begging you now, please stop” Booker grumbled, turning towards where Nile was sitting at the kitchen table reading articles for class.

“What? He is!” she winked cheekily and then raised her voice to be heard down the corridor, “Isn’t that right, Nicky?”

“What’s that, habibti?”

“Joe! He really is a snack!”

Joe preened as he strode into the kitchen, Toto still on his back strapped into his backpack. It turned out Toto had been licking little kisses to the tops of Joe’s ears which meant her baby was either affectionate or hungry. Probably both.

“My beloved is a feast and I a glutton” Nicky agreed, running a hand over Joe’s hair and neck for himself “Which means, little one, that I am the only one who may lick Joe’s ears” he informed Toto quite seriously, stepping up to Joe’s back to help ease the dog off.

“Baby,” Nile muttered out of the side of her mouth at Booker, who dutifully inclined his head to hers, where he was still leaning over her chair, watching their brothers with no small amount of amusement.

“Yes, mon tresor?”

“If you ever lick my ears as a sign of affection, you’ll be sleeping on the couch for half a century, at least”

“Understandable,” Booker agreed gravely and then leaned down to kiss the shell of her ear because he is a _bastard._ “I didn’t lick you!” he protested, dancing out of reach as she swatted at him. He strides up to Nicky and eases the little dog out of the older man’s arms, “Come to me, _mon petit roi_ ,” he danced about, swaying on the balls of his feet, while the corgi licked his cheek.

Joe and Nicky, having freed Toto were now scurrying to feed the little demon, “I know you are hungry, _mon petit roi_ ” Joe told the little dog, repeating the nickname Booker had awarded him when he’d been playing with Toto when he thought the others couldn’t see. “Have patience with us”

Of all the battles Nile’s fought since becoming immortal, getting to keep Toto’s been the easiest this far. Booker bounces Toto in his arms. Toto yapped happily, wriggling and Nile just laughed, rolling her eyes fondly. Joe and Nicky have abandoned their Siena house to move to Florence, to be closer. Nile had teased that it was all to do with Toto, but from the way they end up at one house or the other for dinner, or Nile will end up with three tagalongs when she decides to visit a gallery or museum, how Booker will kiss her cheek and disappear off to watch the game with Joe, she knows that’s not true. Joe uses celestial imagery often and he’s right; they gravitate towards each other. Booker is still cautious with the other men; makes sure their invitations are clear and his presence is welcome but he is open, clear, and honest, sometimes painfully so, but they all know why. He’s determined to be trustworthy, to be better.

It is warm and peaceful and Nile luxuriates in it, tries to bottle this particular strain of Tuscan sunshine they’ve been blessed with so that she can carry it with her when they go back to work. But Copley’s been quiet, so Nile just tries to take Nicky’s advice to enjoy this soft quiet while it lasts. Not wait for the other shoe to drop, the way it had done when she’d become immortal. It’s not always like that, they keep telling her, and Nile’s starting to believe it. Still, she wishes Andy and Quynh were here, empty chairs filled and their equilibrium fully restored.

Booker sets Toto down and he nearly crashes into a kitchen island with his haste to get to his bowl of dinner as Joe sets it down for him.

“Is there dinner? Because we’re starving!” came a new voice from down the hall.

“Andy!” the four immortals jumped at the sound of their leader’s voice, grinning at her unexpected return. Sure enough, Andy and Quynh appeared in the doorway, dressed in their respective trademark red and black, beautiful and smiling. Everyone had, however, forgotten about the little fluffy interloper currently chowing down noisily from his bowl by the fridge.

Toto turned at the new voices, chunks of dry food skittering across the floor now he’d eaten the tasty wet chicken and gravy Nicky had squished into the bowl for him. He padded, quite innocently into the no man’s land between the others and Andy.

“Hello” Andy stared down at the fluffy corgi. Like a mouse in front of a lion. Toto stared back, cocking his head cutely. Joe started cursing in all the languages he knew because they should have told her fuck, wondering if they could adapt Edinburgh in 1715 to accommodate a dog.

“Um, Andy, listen-“

“Yeah?” Andy crouched down on her haunches and expression inscrutable as stone, held out a hand for Toto to sniff. The dog licked her fingers, and Andy reached into her bag and pulled out… a rubber crown. She squeezed it and the thing squeaked. Toto’s ears stood up, tiny face enraptured.

A dog toy.

Andy had a dog toy in her bag. “Here you go, you little troublemaker” she muttered, tossing it across the floor. Toto scarpered after it. Andy looked up at the way the three men were gaping at her.

“What?”

Nile and Quynh burst out laughing

“You knew?”

“ _You told her?!”_

“You didn’t tell _us_?!”

Andy joined in laughing, that beautiful lyrical laugh reserved for these quiet moments with her boys as she watched their antics. Quynh beamed and dipped down to kiss the top of Andy’s head before flopping to the floor and folding her legs, clapping her hands to get Toto’s attention. The dog had stopped, the rubber crown firmly in its mouth, head cocked to one side as it watched the strange behaviour of its humans. Toto trotted over to a cooing Quynh, sniffing the other woman’s knee curiously before accepting her delighted petting. Nicky’s sharp eyes didn’t miss how Andy lightly stroked a hand down Toto’s back, too. 

“D’you honestly think I wasn’t going to tell her about Toto? You keep underestimating me” Nile asked, flicking her braids over her shoulder.

“No” the three men chorus in protest. She was braver than any of them had ever been, it was official.

“No Cherie, you just keep surprising us. At our age it’s something of a compliment” Booker added, about to step towards her and take her in his arms but aborted the move at the last second, eyes flicking towards Andy and Quynh, sitting on the floor.

****

**_Six months earlier, before Toto was adopted_ **

“God, I feel like I’m nine all over again” Nile groused, phone jammed to her ear, _“Please_ , Andy. You never said we couldn’t have dogs”

 _“That’s true, my heart,”_ Quynh mutters helpfully down the line.

Andy sighs, “ _Whose side are you on babe, hmmm_ ?” Nile could see the older woman in her mind’s eye, pinching the bridge of her nose. “ _Kid, it’s not that you can’t or anything but you-“_

“Andy” Nile interrupts, “I know what could happen. It’s all the things that could happen to any dog If I was still mortal. It could get lost, it could get hurt, it will die one day. I know all that. That’s part of owning a dog, in any life, not just an immortal one. I just,” she sighs, scuffs a sneaker over the cobbles, squinting in the sunlight. “This is a goodbye I’ve made before. This is a death, grief, that yeah I’ll feel it, course I will. But it doesn’t mean I should cut myself off from any connection that isn’t us. I can do this, I promise. And like if you’re worried about the family secret, who the hell could it tell, apart from Doctor Doolittle?”

“ _Doctor who?”_ Andy asked sharply.

“It’s a – calm down, it’s a storybook character who learned how to talk to animals” Nile explained patiently.

Andy breathes out heavily and then, _“you have to be the one to explain to Copley. And walk the thing and –“_

“Yes! Oh my god, seriously?! Yes, yes, yes oh my god, thank you, Andy!” Nile practically squealed, doing a happy dance in the middle of the Piazza Signoria, “You are my favourite and I love you” she vowed sincerely into the speaker

“ _Yeah, oka- okay Nile.”_ Andy laughed, before saying softly “ _love you too_ ”

“ _Send pictures, little sister! Lots of pictures!”_ Quynh demanded before they rang off.

Nile practically danced all the way home. She was going to get a _puppy._

She couldn’t wait to see Booker’s face.

****

“Wait. Were you _not_ going to tell me?” Andy asked in the here and now, slowing straightening to her full height.

“Of course!” Joe cried, insulted. “We were merely working up to it” he muttered apologetically.

“It’s Nile’s dog anyway so-“

“Oh, so when he’s being all sweet and cuddly, he’s _your_ little king, but now he’s all mine?!” Nile teased in mock outrage. “There’s a big surprise”

“Speaking of surprises, Boss did you know that Booker and N-“ And he’s not really prepared for this but Nile runs full pelt at Joe and launches herself at him. She wraps her legs around his waist and slaps a hand over his mouth. Joe nearly throws her off instinctually but with the recognition that it's Nile, the scent of her perfume overrides it, and instead, he hooks his hands round her thighs so she doesn’t slip off, in a piggyback. Head tucked beside his ear, she mutters with a dark chuckle “I thought you were going to let Booker explain”

“Spoilsport,” he says, or tries to, but it's muffled by Nile’s hand over his mouth. And – Joe’s not proud of this – he licks Nile’s palm in retaliation. She just raises an eyebrow at him and does nothing to remove her hand.

“I grew up with a little brother, remember? Like I haven’t had that one before”

He’d had little sisters, all that time ago. They were more squeamish. They had not had to fight with fire and win, as Nile had done. He is pleased though, more that she can mention her brother, out in the world somewhere and not coil in on herself at having done so. That he and Nicky have been able to slot into her brother’s shadow and fill the void, at least some of the way. He is glad she is the sort of person to dole out love unconditionally, however she can. He inclines his head to hers, curls brushing her cheek affectionately.

“Let Booker explain what?” Andy’s eyes flash dangerously.

Booker holds his hands up, palms clear and flat in the open air, and sighs. “ _Merci, Joe_. I- merde, I’m in love with Nile”

“Oh” Andy relaxes, and she looks quizzically down at Quynh, who just shrugs back. “I’m sorry I thought this was something I didn’t know about yet” But then she turns to Nile, watching the young woman carefully. Waiting for Nile’s reaction to the information, she realizes. Waiting to see what Nile does with it.

“Wait for it, boss,” Nicky says, grinning and easy because he also is a little _shit._

Booker glares at Nicky in turn. “And she has accepted my affections?”

“We’re dating, Andy is what he’s desperately trying not to say. Together. Romantically” Nile huffs in a rush. Joe doesn’t miss the way her hands tighten on his shoulders and he squeezes her legs sympathetically in response.

“No, mon Coeur I just- “ Booker looks devastated by the tightness in her face. “It is only that - you shouldn’t want _me_ of all people and I –“

“Finish that sentence and you _will_ be sleeping on the couch for a hundred years.” Nile slid from Joe’s back and stalked towards Booker, taking his face in her hands and pulling him close so that they had an unrestricted view of each other’s eyes. “I love you. I do. You do not get to decide you are unworthy and try and make this something it’s not. Especially now, at the beginning of everything. Your penance is being paid. You’re putting the work in. I’m never going to want anyone else, not the way I want you. Even though I’ve got forever to find it, I know it’s you.”

Booker gaped at her, eyes wide “Nile…” He turns in her grasp, hands coming to press over Nile’s own, and bring her palm to his lips. “I will spend eternity endeavouring to treasure you as you deserve, my love”

Toto yapped and jumped up at his parents until Nile broke and kissed Booker quickly before ducking down to scoop Toto up and kiss him too. She casts a glance at the others, Joe and Nicky, wrapped around each other, Andy pulling Quynh to her feet, hands slipping around her wife’s waist, all four of them grinning at Nile and Booker.

That warmth blooms, full and sweet in her heart again, that if she has to be immortal, she gets to do it with them, fighting for what they think is right.

_Happiness is the best thing in the world._

**Author's Note:**

> The fact that Toto is a corgi and has a backpack carriage is inspired by Maxine the Fluffy Corgi on Instagram, who rides the subway in a backpack, brightening everyone's day.
> 
> I'm on tumblr @ meet-the-girl-who-can if you want to come and scream about The Old Guard with me


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